


Kaida: An Overwatch OC Origin Story

by KenaiOkami75



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, OC backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-05 21:45:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11022210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KenaiOkami75/pseuds/KenaiOkami75
Summary: Kaida believed she was born to a simple farming family. However, the truth of her reality is far more surprising.





	Kaida: An Overwatch OC Origin Story

**Author's Note:**

> This origin story coincides with one of my original characters from an ongoing RP story a friend and I are creating. I will try to provide a link to the main story as soon as I figure out how.

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The young woman laid her hands upon her swollen belly, the baby within moving around with strength. She pursed her lips and closed her eyes, wishing that she were somewhere else. Back home, among the gardens and the great pools of koi. Anywhere but here, in this stinking, dirty farmland.

But mother had said there was no other way, no other option for the baby to survive and for her to keep her family’s honor intact. It was her fault this had happened. The night nine months ago she had spent with the young man from a rival clan. It had hardly been anything more than a tryst, two young people who had temporarily felt the thrill of disobedience to their families as they fulfilled their puerile sexual desires.

But Aiko had been the one to pay the cost. The young man didn’t even know she had become pregnant and he never would. It was better that way. For him to have knowledge of what had happened would surely lead to both families learning about the affair.

Aiko gritted her teeth and curled her spine as another contraction hit, her two attendants bustling about in the tiny farm hut as they prepared for the arrival of the baby. The farmer’s wife had asked to stay, and Aiko was grateful. She stood by the young woman's side, holding her hand in silent support. Aiko didn’t even know her name because her attendants had been told to just find someone to leave the baby with when it came, and to then leave the farmlands without a trace or any connections.

The contractions came more and more quickly, and soon Aiko could feel an intense pressure. The urge to push was overwhelming and her fingernails dug into the woman’s hand. The attendants positioned themselves and with much crying out and effort, Aiko birthed the baby in the dim, dusky hut.

Almost immediately the baby’s loud squall filled the air and Aiko lifted her exhausted head to try to see it. The baby was cleaned and the young woman tried to sit up as the swaddled baby was brought near. But instead of handing the baby to Aiko, the attendant handed it to the farmer’s wife. “It is yours now.” he said gruffly, and began to aid in cleaning up.

Aiko’s heart felt crushed. They weren’t even going to allow her to look into the face of her child. Her first child whom she would never know past this day. Aiko whimpered and fell back to the bed in defeat and exhaustion.

The farmer’s wife had heard the whimper and took her eyes from the baby for a moment to glance at the young woman, tears silently rolling down the sides of her face as she lay there.

“Get it out of here.” the attendant who had handed her the baby barked.

Nodding several times in compliance, the woman tucked the baby closely to her breast and hurried out the door. But she did not go far. She hovered with the baby nearby as the attendant’s began to load the cart they had arrived in. When they both disappeared around the building to fetch the horses to hitch to the cart, the woman slipped back into the hut with the baby. Hurrying to the young woman’s side she shook her shoulder with one hand.

Aiko’s eyes flew open to see the woman bending down to her, pulling the blanket away from the baby’s face so that the mother could see her baby at least one time.

“It’s a girl,” the woman informed Aiko.

Aiko smiled at the baby, then looked up at the woman as a tear slipped down her cheek, “Thank you..” she whispered.

“What is her name?” the woman asked, and Aiko was taken aback for a moment. She had not thought beyond having the baby, knowing she had to give it up.

Just then, the baby cried out, loudly and powerfully, making Aiko smile, “Kaida. Her name is Kaida. My little dragon.”

Suddenly the voices of the attendants and the striking of the horses hooves upon the hard ground could be heard and both women startled, wide eyed. But as the farmer’s wife began to pull away to leave, Aiko laid a hand on her arm. “My name is Taguchi Aiko.” she implored the woman to understand, her eyes boring with desperate intensity into the older woman’s.

The farmer’s wife nodded in understanding and quickly left before being discovered. She would not forget the young woman’s name. 

\------------------------------------------------------

Kaida Hatake was always daydreaming, they said. The girl would often be found wandering the edges of the fields, playing in the tall grasses instead of working with the other children. She had every intention of obeying, it was just that other things were so much more interesting. Her parents and the other adults of the farmlands chafed at this and she was disciplined many times for her musing ways.

But that wasn’t the only thing unusual about the girl. She would rather spend time playing with the boys when there was time for play. Most days when the children didn’t have work to do she could be found running barefoot with the boys that tended to group in packs according to approximate age. Kaida would rather explore the trees and streams with them than play with straw dolls or make wreaths of flowers with the other girls. She was even a formidable combatant when it came to playing samurai with thin sticks of young bamboo. By the end of a round of battle, most of the boys would band against her together because she was so quick and accurate with her strikes. She had sent more than one boy home crying with large, welting red lines across various parts of their bodies.

But the thing that got her into the most trouble was the traps she would lay. Usually for the other children, but sometimes the adults would fall victim as well. It was when that happened that she suffered the most wrath from her parents. But Kaida just could not seem to control herself. When the idea for a particularly ingenious trap came into her mind she simply had to play it out. And one day when she was fifteen, she finally went too far for the tiny community to bare any longer.

She had been in the communities shared horse barn by herself, stalling her family’s single horse when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Yelping and jumping in fright she also spooked the horse when, for a moment, she mistook a thick, coiled rope in the shadows of the barn for a large snake. She laughed at herself, but it had also given her a wicked idea.

As she had grown older, now looking more like a woman than a boy, the young men she had used to play with had alienated her. And of course the young women she had alienated herself as a child were not at all eager to allow the strange girl to be a part of their circle now. And so Kaida had been alone for quite some time, accepted by neither group and ridiculed by both. But the group she wanted to get back at the most was the boys. The young men her age that had once called her friend.

Grinning mischievously, she gathered the long rope and hauled it up a ladder to the second floor of the barn where hay was stored. In the following days, she would sneak up there every so often. Cutting the rope into sections nearly all the same length, she then carefully tapered the sections at one end and trimmed the other to a slightly rounded edge. Smuggling some lumps of charcoal into the barn she then meticulously drew strips down the lengths of the ropes.

Finally the day came when everything was ready. Knowing that the boys would soon bring their family horses in for the day, Kaida hid in the loft of the barn and waited. When she heard their voices and footsteps she counted to six, the number she had already calculated it would take for most of the boys to reach the underside of the trap door she hid beside. Pulling the latch the doors swung open above the boys and their horses, a den of ropes descending upon them all.

“SNAKES!!” Kaida shouted as she leaned down to look through the opening, her eyes sparkling in victory as not only the boys flailed and screamed, but the horses reared, bucked and bolted as well.

Quickly the boys realized they had been tricked and they yelled up at the girl, shaking their fists while others ran out of the barn after the escaping horses. Two began to climb up of the ladder after her and Kaida quickly sobered, rising to her feet to run to the window at the back of the barn. Looking back to see the boys reaching the top of the ladder the girl looked down at the ground far below and lept. Curling her body just before she met the ground, Kaida deftly rolled with the impact and sprung to her feet, running off to disappear into the trees while the boys who were too intimidated by the jump yelled at her that they would get their revenge.

It wasn’t until Kaida finally came home after it had grown dark that she realized the gravity of what she had done. Her mother, father, sisters and brothers were not the only ones at their home. Many of the other adults and elders here gathered there, looking grave and angry. A long discussion was held and Kaida learned that when the horses had bolted they had torn through the fields, destroying much of the crop that had been only half grown. Not only that, but one of the men who had been tending the field had been trampled. His arm had been broken. He was expected to recover, but he would not be able to help with the fields for the rest of this season.

“Her mischievous and reckless actions have cost us a large portion of this year’s crop!” one of the angry elders barked.

A younger farmer shook his head angrily, red in the face, “It’s too late to replant that part of the field, the shoots won’t be grown enough by harvest time. It’s a complete loss!”

Kaida sat there with her head bowed, her glance going to her mother from time to time who sat in a corner with her hands covering her face in shame and embarrassment. 

Her father simply brooded with his arms crossed across his chest, listening to the others as they heaped insults upon his family.

Finally the torture ended and one by one the angry community left their home. Kaida’s sisters and brothers had all hidden in the one other room in the home, where the sleeping mats were located. They didn’t venture out when it became quiet because they knew what was coming next.

Kaida’s father closed the thatch door behind the last person, but then remained there, staring at the door in silence. The girl tentatively raised her head to look at his back, his shoulders still hunched in tense anger. Kaida’s mother now sat quietly, her face uncovered but not much emotion upon her face to tell the girl what she was thinking.

Suddenly her father’s hand flashed out and grasped a bamboo switch that lay leaning in a corner near the door. He raised it and turned around, his face contorted in anger he took three quick steps towards Kaida who didn’t move but shrunk aways from him in fear.

As his hand raised high over his head, Kaida squeezed her eyes shut tight. But instead of feeling the intense, cutting sting of the switch she instead heard her mother’s voice. 

“Taguchi.”

Opening her eyes, Kaida saw her father’s hand tremble in the air as he withheld his blow. He then quickly turned on his heel and headed to the door, swinging at it viciously with the bamboo in a flurry of angry blows. Loosed straw rained from the thatched door but he finally tired before it could be destroyed. Throwing the switch to clatter back into the corner he had retrieved it from her father stormed out of the hut and didn’t return.

Rubbing the bridge of her nose with the fingers of one hand, Kaida’s mother beckoned her to come sit before her. Tentatively, the girl slid from where she sat and knelt on the ground before her mother, her hands clasped obediently in her lap.

Gazing down at her daughter with a solemn sadness, the woman stated, “It is time for you to go, Kaida.”

The girl’s heart lept with fear in her chest. What could that mean?

“Taguchi Aiko.” her mother whispered, nodding as if agreeing with someone about something.

Kaida tilted her head in confusion. “I have heard you say that word to father sometimes, what does it mean?”

With a drawn out sigh her mother explained, “It was over fifteen years ago. A young woman came to our home and stayed for some days. Then you were born. She was wealthy and they gave us a good amount of money,” she paused, looking intently into the girl’s eyes, “and you.”

Kaida’s skin went cold and she squinted her eyes in confusion. Then realization came, “ ‘Then you were born..’ You mean I was born from _her_?”

Mother nodded slowly, staying silent for a few moments as Kaida reeled from the revelation.

“You are not a Hatake,” she said when she finally spoke, “You were born from Taguchi Aiko. I know nothing more of the woman apart from her name. But, I do have this..” Her mother carefully pulled a coin from her pocket. Handing it to Kaida she went on to explain, “This was among the coins that we were paid with. Perhaps with it and the name you will be able to find her.”

Looking at the coin that held the image of a dragon’s head on one side and its tail on the other, Kaida then lifted her gaze to the woman, “But mother..” she pleaded.

Leaning forward to rest a hand on the young woman’s shoulder she resolutely explained, “This is no longer your place, my child. Only our family's vow to keep you from harm stays your father’s hand from delivering the punishment you deserve for what you have done to the community. And the community never took that vow so I fear for your safety here.”

“But where will I go?” Kaida pleaded, taking her mother’s hand in both of hers.

But her mother only shook her head, “I do not know. You will have to figure that out on your own.”

With much sadness, the girl and her mother packed Kaida a small bag of food and what little clothing she owned. The older woman then paused to reach high up on a shelf, bringing a bowl with a lid down. Opening it she revealed a stash of money that she proceeded to pack into Kaida’s bag.

Kaida stared with red rimmed and wide eyes at her mother as she finally lifted the filled pack up towards the young woman. Reluctantly taking it from her with one hand, Kaida reached for her mother with the other and clung to her tightly. The two wept for some time before her mother finally kissed her on the cheek and watched her adopted daughter step out of the door and into the dark night.

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Kaida wandered for a little while, finally coming to a large city. She was nearly overwhelmed by the vastness of it and the large masses of people who somehow moved about it almost effortlessly.

Her money was beginning to wane and Kaida knew she had to find the woman she was looking for soon or she would begin to starve. She began to start asking around, using the woman’s name as her only tool to try to track down where she might find her. Most of the time people looked at her blankly or shook their head then went on their way. But once in awhile, someone would point her in a direction. And so far, that direction kept on leading further and further into the depraved bowels of the grittier parts of town.

One of her leads brought her to a small market. The vendor was selling a variety of what he insisted were fresh vegetables, herbs, fish and other creatures of the sea. He was an old man and Kaida had to practically shout the name for him to finally hear her. As he was shaking his head no and waving her off dismissively a large hand suddenly grasped Kaida’s neck from behind. With a shocked gasp the breath was forced from her chest as she was slammed down into a display of daikon.

“Why do you seek the Taguchi family?” a harsh voice barked in demand.

“I- I’m looking for Taguchi Aik-” Kaida’s words were cut short as the man lifted her head off of the vegetables and slammed it sharply back into them, her own teeth cutting her lip upon impact.

“WHY?!” the man nearly shouted.

Her head hazy with stars from the jarring impact, Kaida murmured, “My mother..”

The man seemed to lose patience with her and released his grip on her neck but Kaida was still too dazed to move. The man tore her pack from her back and pulled everything from it and then frisked Kaida, shoving his hand into her pocket when he discovered there was something there. Pulling the coin Kaida’s adopted mother had given her from the pocket the man glanced at it and then roughly flipped the girl over, pinning her shoulder down with one hand and pressing the coin close to her face with the other.

“Where did you get this?” he demanded.

Now that she could finally see him Kaida quickly noted the man looked out of place in this run down area of town. He wore a suit and he was clean shaven with a neatly trimmed haircut. He was also quite large and his angular chin added to the air of intimidation he exuded.

“From m-my mother. From Taguchi Aiko.” Kaida muttered nervously.

The man curled his lip in a sneer that showed he believed the girl was lying to him. But then suddenly he paused as if he had remembered something. Squinting at Kaida he cocked his head and gazed at her for a few long moments. He then abruptly released her. Pocketing the coin he lifted her now empty pack and shoved it into her arms, ordering her to pick up her things.

The stranger then grasped Kaida firmly around the upper arm and guided her out the back and up the street one block to a large black car. Placing her in the back seat, the man followed and closed the door behind him. Without a word the driver took off, carrying Kaida and the stranger to who knew where. As soon as the car took off the man withdrew a phone and began to speak in English, a language that Kaida didn’t understand. She wondered who he could be talking to and if it was someone she should be frightened of.

The drive was only about twenty minutes and when Kaida wasn’t nervously taking sidelong glances at the man who had abducted her, her eyes trailed to the scenery outside. The cramped, dirty part of town gradually began to open up until the buildings not only grew larger, but the properties that encompassed them did as well. This continued until they pulled up in front of the largest gate Kaida had ever seen. The gate opened and they drove in and up to a very large home with large trees and gardens surrounding it.

Climbing from the car, the man indicated Kaida was to do the same. He spoke to her again finally but now the harshness in his voice had disappeared.

“You must follow me and not look anyone else we might meet in the eye. Keep your face down and just remain behind me at all times.” he explained.

Kaida looked up at him with wide eyes, her hands clasping her pack to her chest tightly as she nodded in understanding.

The man led her up the steps to the building, but then instead of going through the main entrance he veered to the left and followed the walkway around the building. Eventually the walkway branched away from the building and led to another large structure. Here he turned right and after rounding the back of that building he finally stopped. Sliding open the door to his left, he indicated Kaida was to enter the room.

Nervously, she stepped in and looked around. It was a beautiful room filled with many screens that depicted scenes of the Japanese countryside. There were also a few benches and some bonsai towards the center of the room. The sound of the door sliding shut behind her caused Kaida to turn around swiftly. The man had not followed her in, she had been left alone.

Not knowing what else to do, Kaida slowly stepped towards the benches and small trees which were raised about waist level upon a high, rectangular planter. She slipped her pack onto the floor and moved to the bonsai, a small smile coming to her lips at the beauty of their carefully trimmed branches.

Suddenly the door behind her clattered again and Kaida turned to look. A woman was standing there in a long, flowing gown with floral print. Her head was held high, already scrutinizing Kaida. She took a few steps into the room, her dress swishing against the wooden floor the only sound she made until she came to stop about ten feet from Kaida. Now that she was closer, the woman’s previously cold eyes began to wander across every inch of Kaida’s body and the young woman shuffled her feet a bit, nervous from the intense examination.

Then Kaida saw something strange. The corners of the woman’s lips began to quiver, almost smiling as she whispered, “Kaida.”

A lump appeared in Kaida’s throat when she suddenly realized who was standing before her. She had never told the man what her name was. Only her mother would know her name.

Nodding vigorously but not knowing what else to do, the girl confirmed the woman’s conclusion.

Aiko gasped loudly and the two both took the final steps to embrace one another, clinging tightly as they both wept with happiness.

Her mother finally leaned back enough to cup the sides of Kaida’s face with her hands as she kissed her forehead multiple times, weeping as she murmured, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, my little dragon.”

Kaida continued to cry as well even while trying to console her mother, “It’s okay..” she said. “It’s okay.” she repeated again but then the words she was saying reverberated within her own mind. Was it okay? What had happened?

Pulling back to look her mother in the eyes she searched them with her own, “Why did you leave me there?”

Aiko sobbed again, her guilt heavy on her heart. Turning to sit on one of the benches she pulled Kaida along with her, her arm around the young woman’s shoulder. “I had to,” she said through her constricted throat, “I was so young and I was not married yet. To keep you would have most likely caused us to go to war.”

Kaida stared at her mother in confusion, “I don’t understand.”

Aiko took a deep breath, finally calming herself somewhat. “I ran off with a boy from another clan for a short while. We.. Well, later I found out I was pregnant with you and if either family had found out the disruption it would have caused could have torn both of our families apart.”

Kaida blinked in shock, her mind swirled in confusion. It was all too much to take in and comprehend at once. But there was only one thing that really mattered right now.

“Did you want me?” Kaida asked, looking back into her mother’s eyes.

Sobbing again Aiko hugged Kaida to her tightly, “Yes! Oh, my little dragon, I did want you so much. When the cart pulled away from that farmhouse and you were not in my arms I felt as if I was going to die from heartbreak right then and there.”

Kaida began to cry again and she buried her face into her mother’s shoulder, wetting the fine material with her dusty tears. That was all she really needed to hear. Her mother had wanted her. Kaida’s fate had been out of her control, but her mother had wanted her and that was all that mattered now.

Aiko gave a sobbing laugh as she leaned back again and wiped Kaida’s tear streaked cheek with a thumb, “I can’t believe that you found me.”

Kaida smiled back, her tears abating, “Now we can be together.” she sighed.

Aiko smiled back, but then suddenly her face dropped and her eyes also dropped Kaida’s gaze. Looking down at their hands clasped together the woman murmured, “I.. I don’t believe that can be so.”

Kaida skin crawled in a chill at her mother’s words. “What? Why?” she implored.

“Kaida,” her mother spoke gently, “It is still the same as before. No one can know who you are. That you are mine..”

Kaida shook her head slowly in disbelief, “No.. “ she whimpered, “No, I have nowhere else to go.”

Aiko stroked her daughter’s cheek, “Go back to the farms, be with your family.”

Kaida shook her head even more strongly, her eyes pleading, “I can’t go back. My family doesn’t want me there anymore. The other farmers might even kill me if I returned.”

Her mother stared at her in shock. She gazed at Kaida for some time but then sighed deeply, closing her eyes as she pulled her daughter’s head to her breast with a hand. Cradling her there she rocked as if Kaida was a baby again. “We will find a way. We will find a way for you to stay here.”

Kaida gasped in relief, her arms circling her mother’s body to hug it tightly. They spent quite a few hours in that room, clinging to each other and talking, finally learning about one another for the very first time.

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During their long talk, Aiko had formulated a way for Kaida to remain on the grounds, but also to remain unknown as her daughter.

It was an ingenious plan and Kaida wondered if it was from her mother whom she had received her own tactical mind. She decided to believe so since she still knew nothing about her father. Aiko told her there wasn’t much for her to tell. She had spent really only a few hours with the young man. He had been witty and charming, charming enough to enrapture Aiko so very quickly and completely. But that was the extent of what she told Kaida. Aiko wouldn’t even tell her his name. She told her daughter it would be best to forget about ever finding out more about her father, that he had sadly passed away as a young man and that they would be happier without dwelling upon the past.

Kaida obediently obeyed her mother’s wishes and put the thoughts out of her mind. She had things that were much more immediately important to think about anyways. When they were done talking, Aiko called for the large man who had brought Kaida here and he entered the room to kneel before Aiko.

“You remember your vow, do you not, Toshi?” she asked the man whose head was bowed as he knelt.

“Yes. I am forever loyal to you, Aiko-sama. And you alone.” the man spoke clearly.

“Thank you, Toshi.” she said softly, and at an unspoken cue the man rose to his feet at attention to his mistress.

Placing her hand on Kaida’s shoulder she addressed Toshi, “You did well in bringing my long lost daughter to me,” she said with a smile. But then her voice grew stern as she scolded the man, “But I warn you to never bring her to me bloodied ever again.”

The man’s face blanched as his eyes involuntarily darted to the bloody split on Kaida’s lip from when he had slammed her head. Quickly stepping to kneel before Kaida he bowed his head again, “I apologize Kaida-sama! Aiko-sama, please punish me as you see fit.”

Kaida blinked at the man in shock and then turned her wide eyes to her mother. Aiko grinned at her daughter and encouraged her with a nod of her head.

Kaida reached down and touched Toshi’s arm, indicating him to stand which he did with compliance. “Uhh, just don’t do it again.” she said weakly.

“Hai!” Toshi exclaimed with a sharp bow.

“Toshi,” Aiko said, her tone now back to normal, “As you know no one must know about Kaida’s connection to our family. But I only just recieved her back and I don’t want to be apart from her again. I wish you to take her in as a new guard. Train her in our ways and post her here at my home so that she can always be near to me.” Aiko finished, turning to smile at her daughter.

Kaida beamed at her mother and nodded in appreciation. This was not quite how she had imagined their reunion resolving, but if she was with her mother no matter the circumstances, she would be happy.

Toshi did an excellent job of training Kaida over the next several months. He was pleasantly surprised that she had an innate ability with the sword, even if she was not too accurate with throwing stars. She was also incredibly fast and stealthy. She learned quickly but even apart from all of her talent, she did have a tendency to be distracted too easily and often shirked her work.

But Aiko wanted her to be near, so Toshi did his best to make sure that the young woman was always placed on guard where the mistress of the house could see her and speak with her every day.

The months turned into years and Kaida became very content, almost to the point of apathy. On more than one occasion, Toshi had gone to Aiko to complain that her daughter wasn’t taking her job seriously. He complained of her tendency to daydream while on post, and her habit of not showing up for training exercises.

Aiko would just smile at the man and shake her head. “I’ll talk with her about it.” she would say, but it always seemed to slip her mind to reprimand her daughter when they had the chance to speak together.

One night, Toshi had set Kaida on guard duty towards the back of the compound. The young woman was a little upset about this at first, until she took her position near the rear door to her mother’s building and noticed how large and beautiful the rising moon was that night. Sighing, she leaned back against a wooden beam that supported the roof over the outdoor walkway that circled the building. Smiling up at the large, white orb, Kaida began to think about space. She wondered what it would be like to be there. She remembered she probably wouldn’t like to be on the moon very much, there were killer apes up there, or so she had heard. But what would it be like to float.. Free within the vacuum.. Free from the weight of this world…

As her mind wandered deep in the night, Kaida did not see two shadows as they silently slipped along the top of the exterior wall and then lept to the eave of the building she stood next to. She was still deep in her daydream when she heard the first shouts and clashing of steel on steel. Turning wide-eyed towards the noise she was shocked that the sound was coming from behind her, from within the building. Kaida moved to climb the stairs to the door as the clashing of metal finally stopped with a blood-curling scream.

“Mother!” Kaida shouted, slamming the screen open so hard it slid off of its track. She bolted down the halls and towards her mother’s room, stopping when she rounded the corner to see the two door guards dead within the hall. Some attendants had just arrived a breath before her, having been in a room adjacent. They rushed into her mother’s room without even giving the dead guards hardly a second glance.

With dread Kaida walked slowly up to the door, she could not tear her eyes from the bodies. She had never seen death like this before. Afraid of what she might see, Kaida finally stepped into her mother’s room. A squeal of desperation escaped her throat as she saw her mother on the floor being cradled by one of the attendants while the other tore at her clothing to expose the wound. The wound on her side that was causing a rapidly growing pool of crimson by Aiko’s side.

Kaida dashes to her mother’s side and took her face in her hands, “Mother! Mother hold on!” 

The woman’s eyes were somewhat glazed over in shock but as her daughter spoke they cleared. She smiled weakly at Kaida and laboriously lifted a bloodied hand to her cheek. 

The attendant who had been examining her wound sat back on his feet, shaking his head that there was nothing to be done.

“No…” Kaida pleaded to her mother, tears spilling down her cheeks.

Aiko’s thumb barely moved, stroking her daughter’s cheek as she whispered weakly, “Your father..”

Kaida’s brows knitted in confusion at her mother, her hands grasped at her mother's that was beginning to slip from her cheek as the last of the woman’s strength ebbed from her.

Aiko’s lips parted once more as the the last breath slipped from her bluing lips, her whisper barely audible to Kaida, “Shi… mada… Gen… ji….”

Her eyes glazed over completely and Kaida could feel her hand grow limp within her grasp. Crying out in pain, the young woman grasped her dead mother’s head at the sides and she pressed her forehead into to hers, weeping and wailing loudly with a grief that only comes from one who has lost everything.


End file.
